Performance of Everyday Life [Week 5] : BIRTH

October 7th, 2024: WEEK 5

The Birth Of Apollo

Apollo as an adult.

Reading(that inspired the work): Julia Chinyere Oparah, Birthing Justice 

Performance Prompt: Perform (sonically or choreographically) a metaphor for the birthing process (your own or another’s) as you’d like to imagine it (live or documented)

Media: Written

Dear Reader,

Apollo was conceived from a tattoo.  An intermingling of flesh made real with the touch of two people.  King (then Doreen) designed the tattoo for me to honor my Black maternal and paternal Jewish heritage; the Buffalo a representation of the Buffalo Soldiers, which my maternal grandfather served as a member of during World War II and the members of my family who lived through, and died in, the Holocaust. 

At conception, Apollo did not yet have his name; I was given the name "Apollo" as a 'scene name' within the leather and BDSM community, but I didn't decide to give Apollo his/our name until many months later.

I met Apollo's mother/creator/life giver on a smoking patio in Reno Nevada on a cold October morning.  Her name is Jess/Garnetto.  A bunny from England who lives with her husband, Kai in Vicksburg, MI.

Jess and I hit it off right on the spot.  I'd never seen anyone so friendly, so welcoming, so cool, until I met her.  It was a match made in heaven.  I knew she was the one to bring Apollo in the world and, well, I was nervous.

Here's the first image I ever saw of Apollo: an ultrasound of a fursona tossing around in two minds.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  He was so beautiful.  Just a little sketch and I was already in love.

Apollo was born on a computer screen, it was a long delivery.  Jess and I went at it night after night, late into the morning hours.  Jess was patient.  I had never had/made a fursona before.  

Apollo was me and I was exacting, but Apollo was Jess's, too.  I provided the seed, the idea, but she made him real.

We gave him life

This is the most intimate photo I feel comfortable sharing of Apollo's birth.  Digital/physical.  My child/myself.  Born on Jess's computer screen 800 miles away and on my iPad screen, inches from my face. 

I wrote a bio for Apollo to send to Jess... so she could know me/our child.  It starts with the following lines; they are both real and imagined:

Étienne Gödel, who goes by Apollo, was born in South Shore, Chicago in 1925.  He was raised by his mother (species: Bison b. New Orleans, 1889; d. 1956), Marie-Cessette Armor and father (Species: Canine [Portuguese Water Dog] b. Chicago, 1896; d. 1956) Baruch Gödel.  His father was a Jeweler and his mother worked as a computer at the University of Chicago (the first Black woman hired by U. Chicago for the position).